Viking Videos

Discover educational video content and related follow up activities.

Video 1 - Weapons - The Axe

What’s the difference between a Viking axe designed as a weapon and one designed for cutting wood?

Dr Andy Halpin, Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Ireland, discusses three newly discovered Viking battle axes found at Lough Corrib in Co. Galway.

Video 2 - Viking Weapons - The Sword

Can we tell the difference between a Viking sword and an Irish one? And why would you x-ray a sword today?

Dr Andy Halpin, Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Ireland, discusses the Museum’s newest Viking sword, discovered in the River Shannon near Banagher in 2012.

Carol Smith, Conservator at the National Museum, explains what x-rays can tell us about the structure and decoration of Viking swords.

Video 3 - Viking Wealth & Trade

Were cows ever used as currency in Ireland? Did the Vikings in Ireland use coins from the Middle East?

Dr Andy Halpin, Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Ireland, shows how Viking trade routes introduced coinage from Arabic and Anglo-Saxon societies.

Video 4 - Viking Women in Ireland

What can the artefacts found buried with Viking women in Ireland tell us about their lives?

Maeve Sikora, Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Ireland, focuses on everyday objects excavated at burial sites and what they tell us about the role of women at the time.

Video 5 - Arrival of Vikings & Beliefs

Are Viking burial sites still being discovered and what can they tell us?

Maeve Sikora, Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Ireland, discusses what the Vikings believed, and how objects found in graves excavated in Dublin help us understand Viking culture.

Video 6 - The Irish & the Vikings

What contact was there between the Irish and Vikings and how can we tell? And were slaves really traded in Dublin?

Eamonn Kelly, Keeper at the National Museum of Ireland, explains how Irish society was different from the Vikings, where the Irish lived and the interaction between the Vikings and the Irish.

Video 7 - Daily Life in Viking Ireland

What do walrus tusks and amber beads have to do with everyday life in Dublin during the Viking Age?

Dr Patrick F Wallace, former Director of the National Museum, discusses finds from excavations from one of the world's best preserved Viking towns: Dublin.

Video 8 - Legacy of the Vikings in Ireland

Did you know that some of the most impressive artefacts of the Early Christian period in Ireland are decorated with Viking motifs?

Director of the National Museum of Ireland, Raghnall Ó Floinn, discusses how Viking art styles appear on Irish Christian artefacts such as the Clonmacnoise Crozier, the Shrine of the Cathach, and the Cross of Cong.